Monday, May 11, 2009

It's a recipe for frustration. In tough economic times, many people are working too hard to take off for an hour-long lunch. And who wants to leave your desk empty when the threat of layoffs is looming? So we dine "al desko": a sandwich in one hand and the mouse in the other. The culinary cost of "just grabbing a sandwich" everyday quickly adds up. But the task of making lunch the night before can be daunting, and boil-in-bag food can be dull. Is there anything you can do at your desk to prepare or pep up your midday meal? New York Times food writer and friend of The Takeaway Melissa Clark has some tips.

Check out a video response from YouTube user BradyDale, who tells us the one condiment Melissa forgot to include!

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

You can't get swine flu from eating pork. (And it’s not even called swine flu anymore—technically it’s H1N1 Influenza A.) Nonetheless, the pork industry can’t be happy about having its product associated with a frightening illness, even if that association is completely imaginary. Advertising consultant Cindy Gallop joins The Takeaway with her creative suggestions for resuscitating a product that has been sullied by circumstances.

Friday, May 01, 2009

What does a pandemic mean? We hear it and we think panic. But strangely the word pandemic has no other synonym in the English language. The Takeaway asks Grant Barrett, lexicographer, dictionary editor and co-host of public radio program "A Way With Words," to break it down for us.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Takeaway's Femi Oke talks with middle school students in Brooklyn, New York, about how they’re dealing with the recession. The kids describe fewer trips to the movies and grocery stores, worrying about crime or becoming homeless and coping with their parents losing jobs. And, they offer some advice to stressed out grown-ups.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

If there was a comment box on the bottom of your 1040 form this year, what would you say? Whether it's "I took this deduction because I deserve it!" or "I did everything right because I'm terrified of being audited," we want to hear it. Tell us your 1040 tweaks.

Friday, April 10, 2009

The promise of open source can be found in a dull commercial building in downtown Brooklyn. The fruits of this approach -- where people share ideas for others to build on -- are coming out of the laser cutter buzzing away in the corner. Or in the disassembled parts of the robot that automatically served drinks. Or the 3D printer that can build other 3D printers.

The 5th floor office of NYC Resistor is a hacker space, one of scores popping up around the country and hundreds emerging around the world. In Germany, the government subsidizes them. In the U.S., a few people who like to tinker with electronics pool money for a place that lets them keep the circuit boards and soldering irons out of their small apartments. They're creating devices that let you turn off any TV in range of a remote control. They're building giant antennae for ham radio enthusiasts. And then there's the 3D printer.

A 3D printer is exactly what it sounds like. A plain old 2D printer prints letters. This spits out objects you can hold in your hand. Toys, door knobs, jewelry. A couple of these guys have quit their day jobs so they can sell 3D printer kits to people interested in building their own. These people are building objects that build other objects.

In a way, this hacker space is like the MIT media lab without the academic reputation. It draws the best talent in computer engineering and the innovation that emerges in highly valuable. But NYC Resistor - or any other hacker space - does not have the institutional burdens of academia or the profit demands of a company. The main goal is to tinker. Take in people's old ipods and make new machines out of them. Rip out the resistors of discarded monitors and make a box that plays high or low-pitched music based on the weather of the city you select. Point the powerful antenna in the right direciton and talk to ham radio users on the other side of the planet. Bounce the signals off the International space station and if you're lucky, you may get a response from the astronauts on board.

Most of the members of this hacker space have important day jobs. One works for the New York Times in the department charged with designing a newspaper that will survive the 21st century. Another works for a university that might train the next engineers for Google. But all the members pool their skills to teach classes to anyone that wants them Recently a team of Google employees signed up for a lesson.

The amazing part of all this: nobody gets paid. This is just for fun. The social part is paramount, the founders say. They don't even allow members to nominate exes as other members. So no ex-girlfriends, ex-boyfriends, ex-roommates, ex-colleagues. Everyone's got to get along or it just doesn't work. And in case you're wondering, it's not just a bunch of pimply guys. Almost half the members are women and most of the guys have a fashion sense as keen as their soldering skills.

NYC Resistor, and the other hacker spaces around the country, might point to a new model for innovation. One where the best ideas come from the volunteers that play with them. Where the next inventions come from a group of technology enthusiasts just having fun.

Friday, March 27, 2009

This week, we sent Senior Editor Femi Oke out to bring your stories about the economic crisis back to the show. Sam Jordan was listening in New Jersey and sent us an e-mail. He wanted us to meet a real estate broker who he describes as more or less his real estate hero. Not something you hear about brokers these days, so Femi Oke went and got the story. She found a broker who, even during the height of the real estate boom and easy mortgages, preached caution and budgetary restraint. He lost clients over his moderation and colleagues laughed, but that real estate philosophy saved families, like Sam Jordan's, from mortgage overload. Femi joins us now with the story.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

This week, we sent Senior Editor Femi Oke out to bring your stories about the economic crisis back to the show. Sam Jordan was listening in New Jersey and sent us an e-mail. He wanted us to meet a real estate broker who he describes as more or less his real estate hero. Not something you hear about brokers these days, so Femi Oke went and got the story. She found a broker who, even during the height of the real estate boom and easy mortgages, preached caution and budgetary restraint. He lost clients over his moderation and colleagues laughed, but that real estate philosophy saved families, like Sam Jordan's, from mortgage overload. Femi joins us now with the story.

Friday, March 20, 2009

In 1942, in the middle of World War II and at the start of food rationing, the writer MFK Fisher published How to Cook a Wolf. It's was meant to be a part cookbook part self-help guide to inspire those faced with the “wolf” of hard times to get creative in the kitchen. With today's economic climate, we thought it would be fun to revisit MFK Fisher’s classic book. So we asked New York Times food writer Melissa Clark to give us some tips from this classic.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Marjan Tehrani is a documentary filmmaker. Born and bred in the United States, Marjan had an American mother and an Iranian father. Her latest film, Arusi Persian Wedding, takes her back to her Persian roots and tells the story of Marjan’s brother taking his American wife to Iran to have a traditional Persian wedding.

When The Takeaway’s Femi Oke went to meet Marjan Tehrani it was just a few days before the Persian New Year. So as they chatted Marjan showed Femi how Iranian families celebrate their new year, talked about growing up half Iranian and why Sean Penn is on her fridge!

Chop parsley, cilantro and scallions. Cook basmati rice. In a saucepan, add rice and mix in chopped parsley, cilantro and scallions. Dissolve saffron in water and add to rice with salt and pepper. Cook rice until the bottom of the saucepan is layered with golden crunchy rice. Don’t burn it--just make it crunchy! Steam the fish with the seasoning. Serve fish on a bed of rice with a side helping of plain yogurt.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Studies show less than half of the students in New York City high schools graduate on time. And many think that New York City is a rough place to go to school. The Takeaway invites two students from Democracy Prep Charter School in Harlem who think otherwise. Daniel Clark Jr., a seventh grader, and Nia Hill-Mims, an eighth grader talk about what it's like to go to charter school in New York City.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Today American consumers have nearly $1 trillion of outstanding credit card debt. A quarter of all homeowners are paying more on their mortgage than their home is worth. And unemployment nationwide has reached 8.1 percent. Does this economic crisis put the American dream at risk? Many may wonder that, as a nation, have we so corrupted the fundamental ideals of the American dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that we instead find ourselves living through the American nightmare? Joining The Takeaway to help answer this is David Kamp. He’s a contributing editor for Vanity Fair and has written the article Rethinking The American Dream. Kamp joins us for the first in a series of conversations about what the American dream means in this day and age.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Trouble viewing this video? Check out the YouTube version (click "watch in high quality" for best quality).

Jimmy Fallon now sits in the throne of late-night giants Conan O'Brien and David Letterman, but it's been a tough week for the former Saturday Night Live star. Troy Patterson, the TV critic for Slate, reviews the first week of NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Trouble viewing this video? Check out the YouTube version (click "watch in high quality" for best quality).

Over the past few years a rash of food-related illnesses caused by everything from tomatoes to spinach to peanut butter has sparked nationwide concern over food safety. Conventional wisdom has always said you can assure your food is safe by buying organic. But New York Times reporter Kim Severson did some digging and she found that organic certification has nothing to do with food safety.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

In undeveloped nations such as Eritrea, Haiti, or Cameroon, light is a luxury. Mark Bent thinks that's unacceptable.

Bent, a former American diplomat and Houston oilman, is CEO and founder of SunNight Solar, a company that has created solar powered flashlights that they are now spreading throughout the world by way of private donors, the United Nations and organizations such as Direct Relief International.

The Takeaway ran into Bent at the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City on February 27th, where he happily pulled apart his product for us. The flashlights, the shape of which reminded me of a Pantene-Pro V shampoo bottle, are made of LED lights and a plastic case. They nab their power from three recyclable batteries that are re-charged by a solar panel that graces the side of the flashlight. In total, the panel provides power for up to 2,000 nights, and the batteries last about two years.

Bent was at the conference to participate in an expert panel titled, "Green Design For Good." When asked about using plastic in his product (a material that doesn't scream sustainability) Bent replied, "I'm willing to live with ABS plastic because I can get people to read." The former Navy man's flashlight do more than help people read. They cut down on the need for kerosene lanterns, which improves lung health, as well as allow villages and refugee camps to function safely after dark. Women are protected from sexual assault, refugees can use the lamps to deter thieves, and farmers can keep away wild animals.

Bent sat down with us post-conference to dish on how his flashlights promote gender equality and safety around the world, and why pink is his favorite color.

Jennifer Hsu Newsfeed

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